Pundit Wire

Author Archives: Hal Gordon

Wagner’s Dead Elephant

By Hal Gordon | Published: May 14, 2013

Richard Wagner Richard Wagner, the great German composer, was born two hundred years ago on May 22, 1813. Wagner was one of the most stupendous musical geniuses who ever lived. He was also a notorious anti-Semite. Even on his two hundredth birthday, there is no ignoring the dead elephant in his living room.

At the same time, to say that Wagner was an anti-Semite, and to say no more than that, is too simple. It is too simple because Wagner was very much a self-contradictory genius, and his contradictions extended to his attitude toward Jewish people.

In other words, Wagner was an anti-Semite, but… And the but was not inconsequential.

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Posted in Culture, General, International, Race & Ethnicity, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Thou shalt not disapprove of gay marriage…”

By Hal Gordon | Published: May 8, 2013

GayMarriage_thumb “How a minority, reaching majority, seizing authority, hates a minority!”
— Leonard H. Robbins

A florist in Washington State won’t provide floral arrangements for a gay wedding, citing her “relationship with Jesus Christ.” In response, the state’s attorney general has slapped a $2000 consumer protection lawsuit against the lady, alleging a violation of the state’s antidiscrimination laws. And the American Civil Liberties Union has threatened to weigh in with lawsuit on behalf of the gay couple that was refused service.

A simple case of discrimination? Think again.

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“Tristan” in Houston

By Hal Gordon | Published: April 22, 2013

Tristan und Isolde 1865 In June of 1857, Richard Wagner reluctantly suspended work on Der Ring der Nibelungen, his projected cycle of four operas based on Norse mythology. As usual, he was having money problems. The Ring would have to wait. Meanwhile, he would compose a potboiler—a simple love story with a small cast, modest scenery and costume requirements, easy to stage. In short, wrote Wagner, “a thoroughly practicable work” that “will speedily yield good revenues, and help keep me afloat for awhile.”

Poor Wagner. Did he really think that he was capable of composing opera on a small scale? The “thoroughly practicable work” he envisioned soon morphed into Tristan and Isolde, a four-and-a-half-hour-long epic music drama that made such unheard-of demands on both the singers and the orchestra that it was widely dismissed as unperformable.

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Revealing Heaven

By Hal Gordon | Published: April 4, 2013

sky_thumb “If a man die, shall he live again?”– Job 14:14

How seriously should we take so-called “near-death” experiences?

Very seriously indeed, says Fr. John Price, an Episcopal priest who has talked to more than 200 “returnees” over the past forty years, and has researched the stories of many more. Fr. Price, whom I am privileged to know personally, has distilled his findings into a startling new book called, Revealing Heaven: The Christian Case for Near-Death Experiences.

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Gays, the GOP and Hypocrisy

By Hal Gordon | Published: March 22, 2013

Senator Portman So Conservative Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio has done a political about-face and announced his support for gay marriage. The senator was a co-sponsor of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). What brought about his Saul-to-Paul conversion? Apparently, it was learning that one of his own sons was—ah—er—um—one of “them.” You know, one of “those people.” Not a ladies’ man. A little light in his loafers. A Nancy Boy. A pouf. A pansy. A queer. A faggot. A fruit.

Sen. Portman is hardly the only prominent Republican to have a gay or lesbian in his immediate family. Dick Cheney and Alan Keyes have lesbian daughters; Newt Gingrich has a lesbian half-sister. It’s difficult to tell how many other Republican political figures have gay family members because they usually manage to keep these embarrassing relations out of the public eye.

Republican hypocrisy on this issue is deep-rooted, widespread and longstanding.

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Posted in Civil Rights, General, Politics, U.S. | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Francis I–Another John XXIII?

By Hal Gordon | Published: March 15, 2013

Pope Francis I I have to admit that I have enjoyed reading about the first actions of the new pope: his paying his own hotel bill; his giving his security detail the slip in order to make a private visit to a church; his preference for simple vestments, his choice of Francis as his pontifical name and so on. It gave me a warm glow of nostalgia as I remembered the accession of Pope John XXIII over fifty years ago.

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Sequester This, Mr. Obama!

By Hal Gordon | Published: March 15, 2013

Sen. Coburn's Twitter Shortly after I started writing speeches for Jim Miller, President Reagan’s budget director, Jim debated Democrat Congressman Bill Gray, then chairman of the House Budget Committee. In the course of his remarks, Gray insisted that there was no more fat to cut from the federal budget, “We’re down to bone and marrow.”

Jim, as was his wont, replied to this rather absurd pronouncement with appropriate tact and politeness. But when we got back to his office, he was fuming. “Bone and marrow!” he muttered. “Bone and marrow! Why that…”

Spotting a chance to ingratiate myself with my new boss, I piped up, “I think you’ve got a pretty good speech right there, Jim.”

“How’s that?” he asked, a tad suspiciously.

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The Economy’s “Animal Spirits”

By Hal Gordon | Published: March 10, 2013

NYSE Photo by Luigi Novi How is it that the stock market scored record highs just days after the budget sequester took effect that President Obama warned would “hurt our economy and cost us jobs”?

What is it that the people in the private sector know that the president doesn’t?

For one thing, they know that the cuts amount to only 2.8 percent of the federal budget. They also know that key sectors of the economy, like manufacturing, energy and housing are rebounding without the government assistance that President Obama claims is indispensible.

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